A City Without Cars In the late 1800s, Denver’s transportation infrastructure was built for the convenience of pedestrians, rather than drivers. Denver’s historic streetcar system was an efficient way for people to move throughout the city and helped develop community ties among riders. A little under a century later, Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD), was […]
The American Society for Environmental History awarded the Rachel Carson Prize for Best Dissertation to Dr. Will Wright. Dr. Wright was the graduate fellow on PLHC’s Global Challenges Research Team, which brought scholars in ecology and history together to discuss common and divergent threads in their approach to conservation. After he graduated, Dr. Wright also […]
CSU Source featured our very own PRSE fellow Kristy Ornelas. Learn how she got excited about public lands and decided to attend CSU for her master’s degree in history! Follow this link to read her story: https://libarts.source.colostate.edu/telling-untold-stories-kristy-ornelas/
Along Highway 34, twenty-five miles southeast of Greely, sits a ghost town from the 1910s. It is easy to miss – just a few worn-down buildings and a small commemorative stone with a plaque – but the little town was once home to a flourishing Black agricultural community. Now bare and desolate, Dearfield sits unprotected […]
Into the Wild: A Modern Wilderness Narrative In 1992, Chris McCandless walked into the Alaskan wilderness seeking the sublime power of nature, and ultimately became immortalized for his tragic devotion. Jon Krakauer’s bestselling novel, Into the Wild, recounted McCandless’ nomadic journey until it untimely ended with his death [1]. Since publication, readers have been fascinated […]
Shaun Rose presented his work at the Graduate Student Showcase, which earned him the College of Liberal Arts Highest Achievement in Scholarship Award. Shaun’s presentation is an extension of work he has done on a project for the PLHC! You can see a recorded version of Shaun’s presentation on Cultural Resource Management at Fisher’s Peak here. Congratulations […]
“A History of Land Use and Vegetation Change in California Park, a High-Elevation Rangeland in Northwestern Colorado” By Dillon M. Maxwell, Charles C. Rhoades, Lincoln Bramwell, Mark W. Paschke U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station (2021) Abstract: For centuries, humans occupied and altered California Park, a unique high-elevation rangeland in northwestern […]
The Origins of Sin City Saddled with gleaming skyscrapers and picturesque fountains, the streets of Las Vegas suddenly emerge amongst red-rimmed mesas in the Mojave Desert. Sin City offers a shimmering respite from the desert that surrounds it, a consumerist paradise set along sandstone and tumbleweeds, but it wouldn’t exist if Hoover Dam was never […]
The American West Program Returns in 2021 On October 14th, the Public Lands History Center brought the American West Program back from a year-long hiatus. Featuring Northern Arapaho speaker Yufna Soldier Wolf, the hybrid event hosted attendees in person and online. Soldier Wolf’s daughter, Blue Soldier Wolf, opened the event by reading the CSU land […]
Who Gets a Getaway? The year was 1940. As World War II raged in Europe, and Americans seeking leisure and adventure turned to exploring their National and State Parks rather than vacationing abroad.[1] In the east, Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountain National Parks were open. Instead of trekking to the National Parks of the west, […]
